Many people turn to woodworking these days for enjoyment, to relieve stress, and the fulfillment of making a unique and interesting expression of their creativity. One area of woodworking is in making blanks which are often intricate and with decorative coverings which are machined or turned on a lathe. They are often made of wood or other generally soft non-wood material which contains an interesting visual pattern. The blank often forms the handle portion of an item. It is often hollow to hold useful mechanisms for pens, laser pointers, whistles, mechanical pencils, and the like.
The craftsman crafts the blank by drilling or boring a hole through the blank, then shaping or turning the blank with the inserted pen-tube on a lathe or other apparatus to define the outward shape or appearance of the blank in an artful way. Many times the walls of the blank become very thin and fragile requiring reinforcement from breaking. This is typically accomplished by gluing a pen-tube into the blank.
Pen-tube is a term generally used to mean a cannulus or tube, usually metallic or other suitable material, which is inserted and glued into the blank. The standard pen-tube size is 7 mm but can come in other sizes. The present invention can accommodate handheld objects with similarity to pen-tubes, at any diameter. The pen-tubes are also used to provide a means for attaching the blank to another object such as to an end of a magnifying glass, or to house a mechanism for a pen or mechanical pencil or other item. It is not restricted only to making a pen, but may be any useful object requiring a substantially hollow handle.
Gluing a pen-tube into a blank can be a messy and inefficient process. The craftsman must assure that an even and complete distribution of adhesive is applied throughout the inside of the drilled hole. Without an even distribution of adhesive, the pen-tube may come loose over time.
Another concern is that any delamination of the blank from the pen-tube will not provide adequate support to machine the blank causing the blank to fracture or vibrate in the lathe due to the extremely thin tolerances in the turning process. If too much adhesive is applied it finds its way to the craftsman's hands which is not only inconvenient, but messy. In the severe case it may require the entire piece to be reworked or scrapped.
Many times before inserting a pen-tube into a blank, adhesive is also spread over the pen-tube while holding it between the craftsman's fingers. It is then inserted into the blank. At this time glue may get stuck to the craftsman's fingers was well as be pushed into the leading end of the pen-tube as it is being inserted.
Adhesive that is pushed forward into the pen-tube can extrude from the distal end which is also a problem. Build up inside the pen-tube blocks the pen-tube such that it cannot be securely mounted to a lathe mandrel for further processing. When the pen-tube is blocked, a drill or other such device must be used to clean out the inside of the pen-tube.
There is currently a tool marketed to aid the insertion of pen-tubes into turning blanks. It consists of a tapered rod with a handle. The tapered rod is inserted into one end of the pen-tube and then pushed into the drilled hole of the turning blank.
While the prior art accomplishes the task of inserting a pen-tube into a blank, it allows adhesive to build up inside of the pen-tube. This adhesive prohibits the mounting of a turning blank with inserted pen-tube onto the lathe mandrel. Therefore any adhesive inside the pen-tube must be removed by some means prior to mounting. This is a time consuming and difficult process. The best alternative is to avoid any adhesive from entering the pen-tube during the gluing process.
Another attempt at solving this problem requires coating the leading end of the pen-tube with a thin coat of paraffin or other wax to protect and seal the end. While this helps prevent the deposition of adhesive inside of the pen-tube, it still requires the extra step to remove the wax before further processing.
The prior art is only concerned with pushing the pen-tube into the turning blank. There's no way to retract a pen-tube once it has been inserted into a blank. This makes it difficult to rotate the pen-tube and move it back and forth in an axial fashion to ensure even distribution of an adhesive layer between the pen-tube and the inside of a turning blank. A failed glue-up can render a pen blank unusable thus sacrificing the cost of the pen-tube and the blank and labor costs.
It is therefore an advantage of the invention to ensure a complete and even distribution of adhesive between a pen-tube and blank.
It is another advantage of the invention to allow the application of various adhesives.
It is another advantage of the invention to minimize or eliminate getting adhesive on the craftsman's hands.
It is another advantage of the invention to devise a method to cleanly apply adhesive to the outside of the pen-tube before it is inserted into the blank.
It is another advantage of the invention to allow the rotation of the pen-tube in a circular as well as an axial fashion to further ensure even distribution of the adhesive.
It is another advantage of the invention to minimize or eliminate adhesive from depositing on the inside of the pen-tube.
It is another advantage of the invention to be able to scale the pen-tube insertion tool to fit a multitude of pen-tube diameters and lengths.
It is another advantage of the invention to insert the pen-tube and remove it easily during a dry fit test.
It is another advantage of the invention to optimize the spreading of adhesive on the leading edge of a pen-tube as inserted by means of a parabolic cone on the leading edge.
For purposes of clarity and brevity, like elements and components will bear the same designations and numbering throughout the Figures.